Enhancing pentose phosphate pathway in Corynebacterium glutamicum to improve l‐isoleucine production

Three genes, gnd, pgl, and fbp, relevant to the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) were overexpressed in Corynebacterium glutamicum IWJ001, leading to increase of l-isoleucine production. The transcriptional levels of gnd, pgl, and fbp significantly increased in IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp-pgl. Compared with the control strain IWJ001/pDXW-8, intracellular NADPH/NADP+ ratios in IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd and IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp cells grown for 36 H increased threefold and fourfold, respectively, indicating that overexpression of gnd and fbp redirected the carbon flux to PPP. Intracellular NADPH/NADP+ ratio in IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp-pgl grown for 36 H was similar to IWJ001/pDXW-8, suggesting that the NADPH produced by PPP could be quickly consumed for l-isoleucine production. 10.9 and 28.96 g/L of l-isoleucine was produced in IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp-pgl in shake flask cultivation and fed-batch fermentation, respectively. In addition, IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp-pgl grew fast, its dry cell weight reached 49 g/L after 48 H, whereas the start strain IWJ001/pDXW-8 reached only 40 g/L. After 96 H fermentation, l-isoleucine yield on glucose in IWJ001/pDXW-8-gnd-fbp-pgl reached 0.138 g/g. The results demonstrate that carbon flux redirection to PPP is an efficient approach to enhance l-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum.